The Vaselines Hit The Bell House In Brooklyn 08/30/12

The Vaselines - 08/30/2012

The Bell House - Brooklyn,  NY

Words, Photos and Video by Jay Porks

As someone who's never been to Glasgow, it's odd to be a veteran of Vaselines shows. In '09 I caught them in at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg in Hipsterville. Then in 2010 out of nowhere they drop this awesome record, “Sex With An X”, then tour in support of it-successfully melting my face at the Webster Hall stop. Well tonight, it's back to Brooklyn to a venue called 'The Bell House'. Only good things being said about this place, and it seems pretty simple to get to: One bus, one boat, one train. Took the day off of my crappy day job to prep for this. Remember folks, this was a band that wasn't together for almost 20 years. Is this a comeback of sorts? Let's sure as hell hope so, because there are a handful of bands that certain people need in their lives to keep them sane, and the Vaselines make short list for this guy. You always know it's going to be a good time when you know the band's entire catalog off the top of your head, and if you're seeing a killer photo above this paragraph, then my bitchin' camera was worth every penny. So what do you say, shall we get the 76th edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series rolling along? Thought you'd never ask. Got off the train, took a big inhale and said aloud "ahh Brooklyn". I walked a few blocks and found the Bell House: 147 7th Street. They say it was a warehouse in the 1920's. I believe it by the look of the outside of it, now it serves as a bar/restaurant with a back room for concerts. I got inside like 730 and waited by the merch table for the "doors" to be open( slated for 8PM). There are a few folks hitting up the box office for tickets, which are still available. They let us into the room contains a stage with two chandeliers dangling from the ceiling and a bar far left side. I notice in back of the room there is this area that's 2 steps up and has bar stools and tables. Like the type of spot that would be roped off for VIP if there was any VIP here. Of course I grabbed that spot, right next to an outlet to charge my phone. Awesome. After I picked up my Vaselines tee shirt (for ten bucks!) a guy walks up and asks if there's an extra stool for him, something with his leg. I let him know there was 3 others up here that's no ones claiming, then he said hes "gonna be shooting video". That makes two of us.

The opener is set to come on at 9, and at 926 the lights finally dimmed for 'Schwervon'. The two piece came on stage and I was surprised that the hot chick is not only drumming but singing lead on songs, as both members sing too. So the guitar player sings one, she sings one, they harmonize and stuff. Pretty cool. "This next song is called American Idol". The male/female dueling vocalists dynamtic of these two fits in perfectly with the band they're opening for. It was whatever song that the lyric "fuck yourself" was casually thrown into the chorus, that was the point I officially proclaimed this band as cool. The two are dating or married I'd assume, as the next song had story about riding the Cyclone at Coney Island on their 2^nd date( The song was called Cyclone). She sounds a little like Kim Deal. They had a song called "Cougar Pride", and don't worry folks, it had nothing to do with the college football team Mike Leech is the coach of. Then towards the end Frances McKee came to lend some vocal assistance one of the last songs of their set. They went off at 10:03 having won ignorant snobs like me over. Not a bad band.

After an extended wait for gear to be set up, The Vaselines came out like gangbusters at 10:31, jumping right into "Sex Sux(Amen)" and "Oliver Twisted", two of the harder hitting songs in their catalog. Glad to see Frances and Eugene haven't lost any of their sense of humor- the banter between songs is hysterical. Its all innuendo- you don't hear any stories about cramped tour buses with this crew. Speaking of sex,, next song up was "Monsterpussy", and during the opening riffs I'm starting to notice Eugene Kelly's little underlying riffs that sort of fiddle into the songs when he's not singing. This third time seeing them is anything but a let down at this point, as the three guitar onslaught buried the Bell House with fuzz and feedback while sustaining that melodic sort of "jingle-jangle" that has always been their signature. "Such a Fool" gave us our first Vaselines song recorded post-1990 of the evening. "The Day I was a Horse" followed, if you don't know, it's a song about tripping on LSD and pretending you're a horse. 

Did I mention that Frances Mckee looked extremely sexy in the leather jacket and sundress? Well I just did, I had noticed it since she came out with Schwervon maybe I just never had a good enough camera to notice. By the time the band was ripping through more newer tracks like "I Hate The 80's" and "Devil Inside Me", I was using that bar stool I was sitting on as a ladder, this crowd seems predominantly taller than others. The Devil Inside Me is such a dark jam for a these guys.

http://youtu.be/0_YHKO0sa28 All the songs off “Sex With An X” are incredible-so amazing to be able to capture all this footage with a real deal camera. I was already getting every single song on video so far, I was on fire. So when the guy to my left says “You getting the whole show?”.. I paused and said “Hell yes I am”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHVPB7hzj3Q&feature=colike The beauty that is "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” was preceded by Frances getting into an anecdote about the“Wankerchief” (see Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam video). It's filthy and brilliant, as was tonight's version of this legendary track. “Hairy” followed... http://youtu.be/rdIeVl37d7c then I called out "Molly's Lips” a second before they busted into it. I knew it was coming because Schwervon was on stage with bicycle horns for this one and back at Webster in 2010, Jeffery Lewis (the opener)played bicycle horn on that song. Then came Sex with an X is the title track from the bands latest effort. Can't help but think there's deeper meaning in that title with Frances and Eugene then they're letting on. Because they don't look like a band up there cashing it in, just touring because they know that since Kurt Cobain was a fan people will come out and see them. It's actually quite the contrary  as they're having tons of fun up there, like kids who's parents left them home alone for the first time ever. The cartoony riff of this song is bouncing around the room while heads in the crowd are swinging back and forth with smiles on the faces of Frances and Eugene. The lyrical lovey-doveyness of “Slushy” is counteracted by the confrontational lyrics in “Poison Pen”. http://youtu.be/VDIlHmx9cJw “Bitch” and “Rory Rides Me Raw” followed “Son of a Gun”, the 5 or 6 folks in Nirvana tee shirts headed to the door as the last of the songs they know were played. 

Probably told you this many times in the previous paragraphs about other songs, but “Ruined” is seriously the best track off this new record. It's face paced, simple, heavy. http://youtu.be/TFC7JSk55KI “Lovecraft” and “Let's Get Ugly” went down before they ducked off stage for the encore at 11:49. Frances is mad because she wanting to play “Dying for it (Blues)” tonight, and they instead were going with “Dum-Dum”. Everyone cheered when they heard Dum-Dum was the choice, and Frances spurts out “I thought you were my friends!”. After they had a false start on it they killed it, then the final song of the evening was, as it normally is, “You Think You're A Man”. The re-worked Divine song that they turned into awesome. http://youtu.be/0ySRlWI8XeI  

 It was 12:02 when they were off stage and I was off to try and catch that 1AM Ferry.  Seduced and sodomized once again by the Vaselines, and I loved every minute of it.[gallery link="file" orderby="rand"]

Toadies/Helmet (w/ Ume) 08/02/2012
 Webster Hall – New York City
 Words/Photos/Videos By Jay Porks

I can honestly say that I've been waiting to see the Toadies again since Sept 2010, the 1st and only time I saw them live. So when news broke right here at Concert Confessions that they were to co-Headline tour with Helmet I was more than stoked. Helmet too? It's impossible for one not to be pumped for something like this, and a promise that can hopefully be fulfilled in these next few paragraphs-we'll try and find out how exactly the opening band Ume is actually pronounced. The songs I looked up on YouTube were pretty cool, so we got three solid bands lined up here tonight at Webster Hall for the 75th Edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series. Let's hope there are no former members of the Cro-Mags here, I don't want to get stabbed or anything. Doors are set to open at 6PM and Ume suppose to go on at 6:45.. I think it's Ladies Night here at Webster Hall so I wouldn't be surprised if they push us scum rockers out by 11 or so. Anyway, let's roll.

Got a 32oz soda at the ferry because Mayor Bloomberg can kiss my ass. It wasn't until I got in the line outside Webster Hall, 20 minutes til doors open that my bladder decided it was annoyed by the mass intake of beverage and let me tell you folks, that was the longest 20 minutes of my life. The only Starbucks near by had an "out of order" sign on the bathroom. As I stand around they open a door and I sneak a peak at the set times for tonight: Ume: 6:45, Helmet: 7:45, Toadies: 9:15. They let us in about 6:15, I find my way upstairs so I can lean on the rail and take some sweet pictures. Notice not a lot of people up here

Ume

The Austin trio scampered on stage at 6:45 and started things off with "The Conductor". Boy were they loud. The ferocious guitar playing of Lauren Larsen led the way, powering through each song without a break in the heavy. The room isn't even half full, but the people here are rocking out to no extent, this writer included.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psqUKKCq1g8&feature=youtu.be All their songs have this 'smash you in the face' type aggression, like an angry Dinosaur Jr-the distortion was all I've ever asked for in a band, the drumming was sexy as hell.  After "Chase It Down" had me sold mid-set, I started to wonder why someone didn't take the time out of their day to make this band a Wikipedia page, I got their names(first names anyway) from their Facebook page, Rachael on drums, Eric on bass. All killed it... They're from Austin so they'd be a perfect band to open up for the Meat Puppets on a tour(wearing my Pups tee, of course).

Being an earlier show (with Helmet due on 745 and Toadies at 915), they unfortunately were only able to get into seven songs..but with they time they had they were able to deliver everything the early arrivals could have asked for. They went off a little after 7PM leaving me wanting more.

Helmet

The buzz outside while taking in a cigarette was "can't believe the Toadies are closing this show". I'm just happy to have two cool bands co-headlining a tour, not gonna nit-pick the order here. Then I got a text from a buddy that said "I'm shocked they played before the Toadies". I headed back in and at 7:45ish Helmet began what was to be a little over an hour of punching me in the temples with riffs. I hadn't been deafened like that in a while, come on now the last show this guy attended was Summerland. Helmet has some great banter, they were joking on superfans who ask them to "play b-sides from like 1990", also mentioned that this show was earlier due to some sort of "disco" happening afterwards. The aforementioned club night. As I'm laughing at this dudes funny commentary, I get a text from Pam, she's outside. Sweet. Pam is the one who got me to see the Toadies in the first place in a Cake for Toadies ticket trade off and it was so worth it. So now we're headed back upstairs (Helmet isn't deafening me any less by me being in a hallway), and one of the security guards is giving Pam a hard time so I'm just turn to dude and say "She's with me, it's cool", and it worked. With the likes of Maura Johnston from the Village Voice in attendance, confidence can go along way with "Wilma's Rainbow" as a stellar background soundtrack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDyPm9glm9E We grab drinks, 10 bucks for a Jack and Diet in a dixie cup. As we're paying for the drinks, Helmet is not letting up and Pam (who's in the building for about 10 minutes) turns to me and says "This band is pretty rocking" or something to that extent. Hell she knows less about the band then I do, I know "Unsung". Man do I love that song, it's such an important song in the canon of 90's Rock & Roll tunes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_JDbVINpv4&feature=youtu.be Well, rolling near 9 o'clock the last song they played was "In the Meantime", leaving us Unsungless. No one seemed to care but me, as between sets I ran out for a smoke and saw a bunch of Helmet tee shirted folk talking, then turn towards the door and see people just arriving with printed out tickets-I guess only here to see the Toadies.

Toadies

Two totally different atmospheres in the room as I returned to my spot. The Helmet tee shirts sort of drifted towards the back of the room, and the few fellows wearing plaid shirts made their way up front. Toadies came out promptly at 9:15 and kicked things off with some "Heel" action, followed by "Backslider" and "I Come From The Water" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT46Ja3u9co&feature=youtu.be and that place was jumping. The last time I saw this band, I said something to the effect of "where have the Toadies been?". Well, those questions were answered in an interview with Clark Vogeler  over at AQ, and then this past Tuesday they released a new record called "Play.Rock.Music." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ONzvN1w9Q&feature=youtu.be I admit I have yet to grab the new album but I know they played "Summer of the Strange" off the new release, and that song is a keeper. They say the NSFW music video is pretty cool. The room was really settling in now, not many people seemed to have left after Helmet by the way everyone was fist pumping during songs like  "Sweetness" and "Waterfall". That man Clark Vogeler over there is tearing up this place-bouncing feedback off his amp Scott Lucas style really gets my juices flowing, I love that stuff. At like 10 o clock, I turn to Pam and tell her I'm gonna head to the other side to catch some pictures from different angles. "Song I Hate" was just ending, so what do you know I'm over here experimenting angles with my camera when I hear that "Possum Kingdom" riff. Okay, let's roll film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTgVodIk-40&feature=youtu.be That version of Possum Kingdom I got at Gramercy in 2010 on video with heads bouncing in front of me needed to be trumped. And if you check
belowabove, it has been in terms of quality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikC3VfBP-ws&feature=youtu.be

After that they jumped into "Mister Love" and after that it's 10:23 so Lewis says that since they're pressed for time sort of, they're not gonna do the run off stage for a minute thing and come back for an encore, instead just saying they had two more to play. "Rattlers Revival" kicked off the "encore" in fine fashion. Then, all of a sudden there's four drums on stage and one of the dudes from Helmet along with the drummer from Ume are on stage to help out on this one. I turned and said "What is this Applied Science or something?", of course making a 311 reference. Then, Lewis, messing with my fragile emotions teases the first few chords of "Unsung" and looks up into this window upstairs on the side of the stage where the lead singer of Helmet is at the window, flipping the bird to everyone on stage. So after all the jokes "I Burn" was the last song played and they headed off stage at 10:32. Not a soul left unsatisfied. 

That was fun times. It's rare to get two great bands together, let alone three with tonight's enlightenment to Ume, which is pronounced "ooo-may" by the way. Hope they come around again. Hope all these bands come around again. And props to Webster Hall for having that Air Conditioning blasting at an obnoxious volume. Keeping a chubby kid like me from sweating, you made everyone I sat near very happy people. Anyway, I'm out of here for now. Thanks to to ones who made it this far down. 

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Summerland 2012 @ PNC Bank Arts Center 7/21/2012

Summerland (Everclear, Sugar Ray, Gin Blossoms, Lit, Marcy Playground) 07/21/12

PNC Bank Arts Center - Holmdel, NJ

Words/Photos/Videos By Jay Porks

Since late March the buzz has been huge for what people are dubbing the 90's throwback experience of a lifetime. It's Summerland! Everclear, Sugar Ray, Gin Blossoms, Lit and Marcy Playground. With the exception of Sugar Ray, these are all bands I was too young to see when they were popular, so for them to be getting together and bringing this carnival to one of my favorite venues, PNC Bank Arts Center in Homdel, NJ, is just the bees knees. According to the post breaking the story here at Concert Confessions, I was suppose to find a Big Dog shirt, bleach my hair and grab a wallet chain. Well, all the bleach in my house is being used soaking my work attire, I don't own a wallet chain, and I have misplaced my Big Dog tee. But it's cool, I found my Meat Puppets tee-shirt to make up for it.   PNC Bank Arts Center has a funky way of doing things with the prohibiting of tailgating. It's as if you never know until you show up if it's allowed. Well, this time after reading the FAQ on the venue's website I decided to call up and ask what the deal was. It was communicated to me that tailgating WILL be permitted and the parking lot opens at 5PM. Good to know, I'll pack my cooler. Rolling with a crew, and that's always more fun. We got my friends Pam, Ray and Lisa. Pam's is a veteran to the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series by now, having been along for many of our 74 installments.  It was actually a year ago to the day that Pam, Ray, Lex and I scampered across the Garden State Parkway just to miss Sublime w/ Rome.   My irresponsible planning and driving directions that took us in circles around Staten Island for a extra hour or so, we finally pulled up to the parking lot at almost 7PM. That's when show is set to start, I'd assume. But we decided that we'd walk in on "Sex and Candy" and it'd be no harm, no foul. We're trying to drink our beer at supermarket prices here in the parking lot. so we were about to start the trek towards the venue, when a yellow school bus suddenly appeared. The door was open and they were shuttling people to the main parking lot. It was like a Summerland miracle..

Got to the gates, after being frisked like criminals we headed up to the Lawn to hit a beer line where someone gave me props on my Meat Puppets tee shirt. Anything to spread the brand. Still on this line at 8:29 is when the chords of "Follow You Down" kick off. Now we're boozed up headed back to find a spot, which we found a good one. Not the best spot overall, but there was a path for a guy like myself to run up to the railing to get good video of songs I found important. So much weed was being smoked EVERYWHERE by the time "Found Out About You" came on. I turned to Pam and said "They're gonna do that Allison song next", and sure enough, here we are into "Allison Rd".. Towards the end you realize: Wow, the Gin Blossoms are really kicking ass right now. None of their set disappointed, as you can certainly hear on my video of "Hey Jealousy" where it seems as if I had walked into a crowd of teenage girls, who proceeded to scream every single lyric. I'd do the same thing if I wasn't wielding a camera. I finally got to see the Gin Blossoms, all those songs that represented all those shitty relationships I've had in my life I got to see live. That's what this tour is all about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvVlcVcHiZI&feature=youtu.be You've figured out by now that we've already missed Marcy Playground AND Lit. That's a bummer. But then again, I'm chalking this up as a victory with the Gin Blossoms-and I got Everclear later. Speaking of Everclear, at about 9:15 here comes Art Alexakis on stage, thanking everyone for coming out and talking about how awesome the 90's were, and explaining a story about how he first met Mark McGrath in 1997 on acid (not sure which one of them was on acid). He then introduced Sugar Ray.

First song we hear is the Saved By The Bell theme song, I think it's being played over the loud speaker. Ray and I are screaming the lyrics aloud grabbing the attention of a chick sitting in front of us (yea, we're sitting on the grass for Sugar Ray), then the band played Wipeout and Mark McGrath appeared in a white sport coat on stage. McGrath has this cocky personality about him that anyone who's seen him live will tell you something to the effect of "you hate him but you love him". So I spent this set focused on not letting this douche nozzle win me over. After "Every Morning" and "Out The Window" almost made my head nod. I recognize way too many of these songs for me to openly admit. They broke into "Mean Machine/Blitzkrieg Bop" mashed into one song sort of-they've been doing that on this tour. The two fans were pulled up on stage, to sing verses on some more covers. The first dude got "You got to Fight For Your Right (To Party)" and it was pretty neat, then with the second dude the whole band got into "I Got A Feeling". Yeah, that Black Eyed Peas song. I was this close to enjoying that set until I heard that non-sense. He handed them each a shirt by saying "Here ya go, a Collective Soul Tee for you, and a Third Eye Blind one for you". Where are they on this tour? They closed out a crowd pleasing set with "Fly" which I taped and afterwards kept rolling for the first verse of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song he did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3gjlvVx2QM&feature=youtu.be   So around 10:15 McGrath comes back out to introduce Everclear, proclaiming them "The ONLY band that can close out Summerland!". Damn right. The people who think Sugar Ray is the band on this bill need to have their heads examined.

So a few minutes later Everclear hit the stage and kicked things off with "Father of Mine" and "Everything to Everyone". I know people who disagree with my last paragraph will find joy in this, what bothered me was the mass amounts of people leaving while Everclear was just kicking off their set. It's bad enough that the seated area between the lawn and the pit was half empty, but by the time Everclear was into their 3rd song the place was getting scarce. Then at about 10:45, Lisa says "hey, why don't we sneak by that security guard into those seats". I finished taping whatever song I was (because I have a railing to lean on the camera isn't so shaky) and tapped Pam and said we were about to make moves. As soon as 3 hot girls passed in front of this dude, we walked right passed him with his back turned to us. That was bad ass.

So now we're in what, $50-$60 seats for the duration of the show, which wasn't too long but was everything we needed. "Wonderful" and "I Will Buy You A New Life" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFgblH8iOqw&feature=youtu.be were beautiful and for all these people who say Art's voice is "shot" and they're "terrible live" please, comment below and tell me how that is fact? These songs sounded exactly as they did on record. Humor me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeMQwlSc6Sk&feature=youtu.be Then they jumped into a Led Zeppelin cover(Rock And Roll) that they had the lead singer of Lit come out to assist with. But during this while I'm recording a fight breaks out between these two drunken heavyweights a few rows up. Typical Jersey rock concert, people get drunk and argue over which one of them is the father of Snooki's child. But wait, why is my 5 foot 2 friend Lisa over there now? She's breaking up the fight is what she's doing, for reasons none of us, including her are able to explain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AUYEfYx3c&feature=youtu.be Dudes are covering Zep and I had to make sure some guy twice my size doesn't toss Lisa to the side like a discarded napkin. It was a conflict that resulted in me NOT being man and heading over there, and the video sucks anyway because I had my eyes on the brawl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr0umiD_Qu4&feature=youtu.be The last song of the evening was of course "Santa Monica", which is personally the only song I can play on guitar-barely. But there were kids on stage, I believe the lead singer of Lit (who was still hanging on stage) brought his kids up to partake in the awesomeness. Show ended about 11, that was after Art said "See you next year, tell a friend!". Well, I'm the friend that just told you.   What a moment. Been waiting since March for this, and even with missing Lit and Marcy Playground this still was such a great experience, no matter how cheesy some may view it as. This cost me $25. In this economy, I'll take it! Anyway, those who stuck around to read I thank you, and hope you keep up with us at Concert Confessions because there is nothing but good things going on over here. Keep your eyes peeled.   LATE   [gallery link="file" columns="4" orderby="post_date"]

Childish Gambino @ Central Park Summerstage 06/25/12

Childish Gambino - 6/25/12

Central Park Summerstage - New York City

Words/Photos/Video By Jay Porks

Damn, I wish I could keep this streak going of hitting epic shows every freaking night. What goes on people , welcome yourselves to the 73rd episode of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series. After two days in Atlantic City at the Orion Music + More festival, it was time to get back in the New York groove as they say with a visit to Central Park, for Childish Gambino. Since this is Concert Confessions, I have a small confession to come clean with right now: I introduced ALL my peers at CC to this guy over a year ago! Then all of sudden Reverend Justito gets him at Coachella, then the entire NW chapter got him at Sasquatch in WA, even a confession from Mr Sparkly from a show in Moscow, ID on thenaturalstoner's birthday. Then Jakob got him at Bonarroo. I've read way too much about my new favorite rapper on this site not from me, it's about damn time this Central Park show came around. Openers are Schoolboy Q and Danny Brown- "doors" at 6, show at 7 at the Summerstage, as a killer storm was just cleared up upon our arrival. I don't know if my head isn't on straight or what, me and my buddy Chach got to the city at 6:30 and I took us all sorts of out of the way missing a bunch of trains. I'm the one who's been to shows here after all. So we got in at like 7:30 and we heard Danny Brown on stage as we were entering. I thought it was going to be reversed and Schoolboy Q would be on first but it wasn't the case. Danny Brown is a little too weird for my taste anyway. I can take him in small doses, and I'm sure he'll be out here sometime later on tonight.

Schoolboy Q hit the stage at like 7:45 and was spitting lyrics to a hyped, packed out crowd who didn't seem only into the headliner. During his set Danny Brown was walking around like the front of the stage by the crowd, taking pictures with people and stuff- like right when Schoolboy Q is up there trying to do his thing. I'd be pissed if someone was kinda stealing my thunder. His last song was “Hands on the Wheel”. He was off by 8:13PM

At about 8:32PM the stage was filled with smoke as Childish Gambino came out to a roaring ovation. Most of the crowd was chanting “Gam-Bino Gam-Bino”, just like they scream for Jay Z with the “HOVA” chants . Unreal. I never thought I'd see this many people as excited as me. Then like the 2^nd song up was “Firefly”, which is a sick song. This guy is such a pro at what he's doing. “Freaks and Geeks” hit us up next, the song containing such epic lines like “I'm in the back of the bush like Gaven Rossdale's drummer”(get it? The female anatomy + 90's Alternative rock band? Awesome). They're was a video screen that I couldn't see do to the fact I went far right to be as close to the stage as I could. He did a song or two off 'Culdesac', his first record (or mixtape). Besides a few people cutting in front of us and pissing me the hell off before they moved I was genuinely have such an awesome time. Even though I'm cramped in with a bunch of people being bumped from all sides-I feel like this is family.

Everywhere we looked there was weed being smoked..and not the typical “let me duck down and use this one hitter” type smoking. Everyone was smoking right in front of the event staff, they were watching and really could care less. There's this couple in front of us (who earlier I was pissed at the dude for being in front of me, but he has since moved over) turns around and I see him talking to Chach and then he hands him half a joint, and it's fat as hell. Chach goes “I don't know, he said he was done smoking or something”. Sweet. Myself, not the type to shy away from the recreational use of the herbal, enhanced the night a little more by joining in with the rest of Central Park's Marijuana Bonfire. People never share at shows, these are some good times right here.

The thing different about Childish Gambino, besides the way his punchlines emphasize the punch, is that he plays with a full band. These guys rock out. At one point during the set he says “Listen guys, this isn't a Rap concert-This is a black rock concert!”. And tearing through “All The Shine” (tearing through it to epic proportions) and the “Rolling in the Deep” remix he does, with the two guitar players, two violinists, drummer and all of the above with one drum in front of them at all times creating all sorts of cool elements. Like, the guitar player bangs the drum for a little, hits the keyboard on another part of the song. All these guys are full with as much energy as Gambino. “L.E.S.”, “Heartbeat” and “Bonfire”(which was, like many tonight, full crowd sing-alongs as we all know the every single lyric) were all played before 9:27 when he said goodnight and headed off stage. I thought it was over before I looked at the time, because it felt like he played it all.

Comes back out like 3 minutes later, and says “I said it was a black rock concert, well now it's time we turn this to a rap concert!”, then kicked a freestyle over the beat for a song called “Rack City” by Tyga. Then he said “Ya wanna hear some new shit?” before jumping into songs recently released like “Eat Your Vegetables” and “Unnecessary Roughness” which Schoolboy Q was called out to perform his verse he has on the track. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP9rnuXQoa0&feature=youtu.be One problem for Schoolboy Q, his mic seemed to be low or totally out. So Gambino, so aware of the situation, goes from just ad libbing the line to outright rapping Q's entire verse for him. What a save. Now it's Danny Brown time, I knew that weirdo would be out sooner or later. They drop a beat and Danny Brown ripped a freestyle, followed by Gambino ripping one of his own and then Schoolboy Q's mic was fixed in time for him to rock one out too before the night was closed out with “Lights Turned On”. 9:55PM, right on time for the Summerstage curfew.  

Wow. Seriously, wow. Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino comes home to destroy this place. Left it all on stage like he does in every town every time. I can't wait til July 4^th for the new mixtape to drop! This was some fun times tonight, so much fun had. If you've been keeping score at home, that's two nights of Metallica followed by a barn burner by Childish Gambino. I'm wiped. Thanks for taking the time. Leave some comments! We have a new comment thing down there as of a few weeks ago. It's cool tits.   LATE

Orion Music + More Day 2 Recap (6/24/12)

Orion Music + More Festival (Day  2) - 06/24/12

Bader Field - Atlantic City, NJ

Words/Photos  by Jay Porks

Orion Music + More Festival Day Two Recap 6/24/12

Orion Festival- Day Two: Running later than yesterday because my alarm didn't wake me and I just happen to have drank enough fluids on day one that I had a built in alarm clock as a back up. But wow, do you know how much worse that could've been? I coulda woke up at 4 and missed Ghost! Or The Black Dahlia Murder! Well luckily, in the 72nd edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series, I was at Bader Field here in the beautiful Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the Fuel Stage right on time to kick today off with A Place To Bury Strangers.

You see an editors note on yesterday's recap about me writing this review at the show. That's true. With memory card space and battery life on my mind, instead of filming all I can I'm taping one song per set, therefore leaving me more time to take little notes and stuff.  Hence why some of the wording seems as if it's happening live. It was at the time.

A Place To Bury Strangers

Who's the one who told me to check this band out like 3 years ago? Anyway, thank you whoever you are, because they ain't too shabby.  You'd think with a name like A Place To Bury Strangers, they come and rip your heart out with the death grips of metal. I mean, they're loud as fuck, and quite heavy-but the elements of distortion (I don't if that's an effects box on the drum set or what), they're more "alternative-ty". They kicked off at 1pm and a few songs in I'm thinking "wow these dudes are wrecking shit up, what time is it now?" It was only  1:18pm.  I caught maybe 6 or 7 of their songs before I headed cross the field to the Orion Stage to get a good spot(behind the empty VIP area) for Ghost.

Ghost

Yesterday, Lars and Kirk introduced  a few of the bands that they said they were fans of. Well, Ghost got that same treatment today, only from James Hetfield. I was chatting it up with a fellow rail rider and a security guard in front of us. Kid next to me mentioned that they changed from all black to all white for this tour "so they look like Klan members". The security guard happened to be black, so I said to him "so don't run when you see them!" jokingly. It was all fun and games- even when Ghost came on. These guys definitely have a sense of humor. The costumes, the whole thing. When they walk out you can't help but chuckle. I was no longer afraid, but intrigued.  And they don't seem to me to be this "heavy death kill your face" metal as assumed.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzFyVnuZLOs&feature=youtu.be Ghost rocked. We got that cool ass "Here Comes the Sun" cover, and I think that last song was called "Ritual". I noticed their drummer was kicking up something wicked over there. Awesome band- now go take those outfits off boys it's hot at hell out here

Gary Clark Jr

 Fuck yeah! I had and still have no idea who this guy Gary Clark Jr. is, and you know what, that's a bad job on my part. Shame on me.  Apparently I was the only one  who was new to dude, because the crowd really packed in for this one. If you're a fan of awesome  bluesy crazy guitar work- emphasis on awesome-then you need to see check this guy out. The solos were freaking epic- some take you to space type stuff.  Kirk Hammet introduced him as "one of my new favorite guitar players" and praised his interesting sound. Well, as Kirk watched from the side of the stage the riffs from Gary Clark Jr were hitting me in all the right places song by song. I got the name of one cause the lyrics were easy "If You Love Me Like You Say". Seriously, where'd this guy come from? Does Jack White know about this guy? Because I can guarantee once he hears him they'll form some sort of awesome side project for Mr. White.

Best Coast

Yesterday saw the indie acts the likes Modest Mouse and stuff. Today leans more towards the metal side of things- therefore, more drunk metal fans, hence peaking my interest to see Best Coast  get stuff chucked at them. While I walked over I heard Soul Rebels doing a jazzy version of "Enter Sandman" wish I could have caught that. But instead I was catching these wusses. With their soft, boring music. How old is that chick like 14? They're like emo kids who heard a song with a distortion pedal and started a band with their parents money. I'm chatting it up with this female security guard as they play.  Forget these losers. Such uninteresting songs I could write in my sleep.

The Black Dahlia Murder

Ghost and The Black Dahlia Murder are the two acts of Orion that Reverend Justito has been in my ear about. I'm on the rail at 4:46( their set is at 5:15) and as they're setting up at the Damage Inc. Stage one of the guitar players screams to the crowd "Take off the glasses so I can see your eyes!!". These guys have a sense of humor they were joking around with fans the whole time they set up, and between songs.  Once they started, it was the fastest played instruments I've ever seen in my life. THIS band, is the first band at this festival with the exception of Metallica that I'd hear one second of and immediately say "metal". The lead singer has the full growl going, I don't know how that can be done night in night out without killing your voice box. Few songs in dude tells the crowd he wants to see the biggest circle pit of all time. So this, already rawkus crowd with some epic crowd surfers just got a tad more violent. Awesome. Thought I enjoyed the band, not sure if it's something I can do full albums of.  I got out of there 10 minutes to 6, I have to find a spot with some shade.

Eric Church

 Back to the Orion Stage and another act introduced by James Hetfeild, this one being Eric Church. I'm giving it the blind listen for the first 2 songs, I found an shaded spot where I can sit on the floor behind the handicap seating( I need a breather!). I can say this much- I didn't need Hetfeild to tell me this dude is from Nashville,  because from the first lyric he sang his voice conveyed  the sounds of he south. He said "We're from Tennessee, we just wanna drink and party like you guys". Sweet. His voice would fit in well with country music- but his band sounds like they belong at a place like this. Songs I didn't hate, even if it is country music. Church mentions he drinks "94 proof, single barrel Jack Daniels" while holding up a red cup and says "I wrote a song about it, for those who won't remember all this in the morning.. called Jack Daniels". Did I mention there is no liquor on sale here? Just beer and I saw wine. With this crowd, probably a safe idea.

Titus Andronicus

While everyone heads over to the Fuel Stage for Avenged Sevenfold, a band I tried so hard to get into but couldn't, I figured I'd check out Titus Andronicus at the Frantic Stage. Of course now that the sun is setting I'll make my first trip to the tented stage. I know Titus did one of those covers on that Spin magazine Nirvana Nevermind tribute album that I didn't hate. So there's one I'll know if they play it.

Once they started I'm thinking: "Now this is more up my alley". Three guitar players, front man who's looks like his girl friend dumped him and they're here to tell you about it type of band. Slightly whiney, but I can't blame them they're from  Jersey and they get loud enough to make up for it. They're more punky than anything else. Really enjoyed their set, it was fun- made me bounce. Towards the end the lead singer is like "Metallica is up next.. never thought I'd be saying that".

Metallica

Now let me preface this following paragraph by saying I think it's really cool what Metallica did here with this whole “inviting bands outside the genre of Metal” to a festival thing, and I loved it. Orion Music + More was something I'm going to remember. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXpqTUSp9BY&feature=youtu.be   They're set to hit the stage tonight at 8PM tonight as oppose to 9PM, it is a Sunday after all. Once their set started I received three texts from three people who shall remain nameless (thenaturalstoner, Mr. Sparkly, and I made up the third one it was only two) asking me if Fuse is running a repeat of last nights show on the stream. Add an hour more of daylight, and I kind of felt the same way. They went with  "Ecstasy of Gold",  “Hit The Lights” and “Master Of Puppets” to kick it off again. Last night I played the role of “first Metallica show” guy. The guy who'd never seen the band before and I just sat back and really was able to take it all in. . But can you tell me something? What the hell guys?? What the hell? If you exchange "Ride The Lightning"  with "The Black Album" tonight was basically almost a carbon copy set of last night.  Okay, at 8:42 we got "Fuel", I'll give you that-it was freaking awesome. But even the way Hetfeild worded everything exactly the same way as he had did the night before, as if he had all that stuff memorized. He keeps saying stuff like "Orion and Metallica are family" and making us chant it, as if he's taking this Orion Music + More brand and trying to pitch it for next year already.  First of all you're Metallica, if you wanna have a festival I'm sure you can afford to have one every single year. And second off , dude, if you book good bands, we'll come back again-stop forcing it on us.

I was really happy to be able to grab footage of Metallica doing my favorites though, even if they were played last night. This new camera is such a beast. Last night my battery died before I could get pics of any of their pyrotechnics fireworks explosions that started with "Enter Sandman" (on both nights that's where the bombs went off). 'Unforgiven' was epic, thank the sweet lord they didn't play versions II and III.  It wasn't til after 9Pm when we got into the Black Album-backwards. I don't listen to albums in reverse order unless I'm trying to find out if Paul is dead, so what the hell is up with that? They did the same thing last night. And don't call me a noob, because  when I got in the cab after the show and I asked the people I shared it with if they stayed for the entire encore, the answer was a quick "No way they played all the same songs". And don't talk my word and the word of someone I asked for it, as the Concert Confessions peeps who were watching the stream and had their own thoughts: Jakob: -"They could at least switch up the intro! Don't do the Ecstasy of Gold two nights in a row at your festival" -"It's your own festival! Switch it up! Jesus christ" TheNaturalStoner: - "Are you shitting me right now???? apparently Metallica still has some shit to learn about playing multi night stands" -"Seriously... did we get last nights feed? this is weird" -" Jesus christ they got like 15 albums of songs, why they gotta do this?? If Phish did this all hell would break loose" Mr Sparkly : -"Just play a two-hour long Enter Sandman...call it a night." -" Yes, James...you are at Orion and your band is Metallica." -" Alright, playing the Black Album was cool and all, but there was so much more they could have done with the second night." -"A wasted opportunity"

Ooooo look they're encoring with "Seek And Destroy".  Yeah, like a lot of stuff  during this set, I got this last night. During that encore I was heading towards the exit. Tonight Metallica set was kind of a let down all things considered. Last night they seemed like cool guys, like changed men. Tonight all I see on stage is a band looking at a sea of about 22,000 fans while calculating profits in their heads.

At least I saw Metallica two nights in a row-I mean in the general scheme of things having never seen them before this weekend. But I do have one last question. Metallica has a song called "Orion" right? This is Orion Music + More festival right? Why not play that song, do you guys think it sucks? Then why name you're festival after it? But besides a 2nd night headlining let down, the whole weekend was really great and I got to branch out my musical tastes a little bit from stage to stage, set to set. First "festival" I've attended was a success, even catching that 4:30AM bus back to NYC at Ballys.

Notes: The Medical staff gets all the blame when shit goes wrong, well let's slurp them when shit goes well. Their were tents everywhere if you were feeling even the least bit dehydrated or anything. Drunken passed out people on the floors were quickly scoop up brought into the tent and revived in time for Metallica.

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Orion Music + More Day 1 Recap (6/23/12)

Orion Music + More Festival (Day  1)- 06/23/12

Bader Field - Atlantic City, NJ

Words/Photos  by Jay Porks

Orion Music + More Festival Day One Recap 6/23/12 

Editor's Note: Jay Porks is so bad ass, he wrote this review during the festival. We hope you enjoy.  And welcome to the Jay Porks Day One Re-Cap of Orion Music + More Festival here in Atlantic City, NJ. For those who weren't aware, this is the festival curated by Metallica, containing a bunch of acts you raise eyebrows to when you take a look at the list. Not only that, but Metallica is closing both nights, playing Ride The Lightning tonight, and The Black Album tomorrow night. Both days look awesome, but my plate for today is full of acts that I've been dying to see for a while, like Arctic Monkeys and Modest Mouse. Also got some Cage The Elephant action in there, along with the obscure (in an awesome way) Fucked Up. Oh and two legendary performances, one being the aforementioned Metallica and the other being Roky Erickson. Roky is my highlight going into today until Metallica destroys me later on tonight. Any friend of the Meat Puppets is a friend of mine. Saturday is set to kick off for me with Baroness at 1PM. The 71st episode of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series won't feature more than one or two videos from each act, as battery is a factor along with memory (I'm packing 32gigs), and we want to get all the Metallica we can get, because after all, they're freaking Metallica. Anyway without further ado, let's call this cab and get my ass down to Bader Field and get this party started! I got out of a cab at like 12:20 and walked a few blocks to the entrance side by side with a sea of folks all done up in their Metallica gear ( with a few scattered Iron Maiden and Avenged Sevenfold tees- as I sported my Meat Puppets). It's hot, like really hot. This is my first "festival", I don't normally know the goings on of a four-stage event. This place is HUGE! Like, I can see for miles- and there's all types of side things going on. Rows and rows of concessions ( water was $3- that's a deal these days) . There's a Metallica museum, which I'll check out tomorrow because the Orion stage looks so far away from here for Baroness I don't want to mess around. There's 100's of old school custom cars in a car show tent type thing. Lots of people, lots of hot metal chicks wearing the appropriate attire for a 90+ degree day in the sun (life is so good). I was worried I couldn't get my camera in, then I saw the sign that said " no professional recording devices". Well, if there's one thing I'm not, it's professional. The band the Orion stage had blasting was what every heavy metal fan would dream of- The Cure.

Baroness

I didn't know Tyson Chandler joined a band! That lead singer does look like him tho- but all kidding aside if you're kicking off a festival headlined by Metallica, I don't see a more perfect band to do so then that in Baroness. My questions of "will you be able to hear other bands on other stages at the same time" was answered when these kicked off their set. I got almost all of that first song, only failed because they fooled me towards the end. The Orion stage has video screens on each side- giving it this "Hey, we're a real festival” kind of feel. Me, the guy who's not heavy on metal, found myself with a slight head nod and maybe a little strumming of my thigh as they past 1:30pm with "Take my Bones Away". Wow, they played the ONE song I actually knew the name of ! Good times, energetic set. They ended at 1:56pm http://youtu.be/AkLxcfQmXh4

Roky Erickson

I showed up to the "Frantic" stage early, mostly due to the fact that it's the only stage that's tented. Some relief from the sun for a few minutes as they set Roky up. And that's when I decided to take advantage of the free water re-fills they have on site here at the festival (warm water, but free water). With full band (keyboardist, back up singer , drummer , 2 other guitar players and a bassist) on hand, Roky and the crew came out at 245. How old is his guy? Hot chick on keys. The lead guitarist is like "damn, it's hotter here than it is in Texas". I'm like in opposite Baroness mode as I ride the rail, but still so loud. The band backing him was tight as hell, they helped carry him and everyone else into space for a little while. Played some of my favorites like 'Two Headed Dog', 'Night of the Vampire' and “You're Gonna Miss Me”. It looks like Roky honestly doesn't know what planet he's on. I wish I could be so lucky. They were done rocking at 3:20-3:30pm. http://youtu.be/OGMyGZ45cgM

Fucked Up

So when I arrived at the "Fuel" stage for Fucked Up, I noticed some dude in an "OFF!" tee shirt. Must've seen a show on that Dinosaur Jr/Fucked Up/OFF tour I caught last year. First song into their set this dude is leaning on the rail screaming lyrics at the crowd- ripped his shirt off and the epic back sweater was in full force. Only took til the second song to get him completely in the crowd. Such a fun time, this band is too obscure and unique for me to call them punk, but they are some sub genre from that. A few songs they played were “David”, “I Hate Summer”, “The Other Shoe” (which I thought was called Dying On The Inside, because that's the audience sing-along part) and “Turn The Season. Damien(the lead singer with the back sweater), says he would've stayed the whole weekend, but him and his wife are expecting their 2^nd child tomorrow. I ducked out about 4:40, I was hoping to be able to walk to some other stages to see what's happening, I know these dudes (and bass playing chick) are awesome, let me see if I can discover something. http://youtu.be/T1LuNbylbkU  

Jim Breuer

Caught the end of Jim Breuer's "Heavy Metal Comedy Tour" set back at the "Frantic" stage. He was explaining how he started doing voices by prank calling his fellow Sears co-workers with Kaddafi bomb threats. Heard some dude say “I'm not into that whole 'pot head comedy' thing he does”. I don't really get that statement, I don't think Half Baked 2 is due out anytime soon. It was a fun few minutes over there

Gaslight Anthem

With time to kill til Cage the Elephant, and the"Fuel" stage is already getting packed by the front. So I decided to go listen in on a few Gaslight Anthem songs, Since it looks like the entire state of New Jersey has made their way over to see the hometown boys. I don't mean to steal anyone's line but fuck these guys. No seriously, fuck these guys. I came in right at that "American Slang" song, and heard a few after that. Why are people into this band? Even the jokes they make between songs are lame: "Here's a slow song, so it's your chance to talk to that girl with the tattoos next to you, because you know they don't hang out where we hang out". Where "We" hang out?? You guys are in a rock band that a bunch of sheep worship- you guys hang out where people like Jay-Z hang out. You are not us- we paid to get in. Oh yea, did I mention your band fucking sucks?

Cage The Elephant

Like the lead singer said after the 1st song "we're weird people". Weird in a good way, I like the kinda half rap thing they do on some songs, and the music is funky as fuck! No wonder Kirk Hammet introduced them. I was at this same stage for Fucked Up and was like 3 rows deep- now for Cage( who played House of Blues last night) I'm at least a football field away. Not only that, but just as I'm getting into this I see people already heading towards the Orion stage for Modest Mouse. Do I leave this set and scout a spot that's maybe only 90 yards away for MM, or do I stay? I'll hang out till they play that song of their's that I used to hear on the radio all the time.  

Modest Mouse

 There are SO many people here! I guess lots of folks skipped the early day activities and are arriving late , but I'm deep behind easily 1000 people standing. But I'm so far back, I can see over the heads. Awesome. Guys came out blazing, opened with "The Whale Song".  Modest Mouse has like a million albums, so even being handed a set of not-so-familiars  didn't piss me off like it would with some other bands. "Float On" was a pleasant surprise at about 7:35ish. "Shit Luck" was mixed in there too.  People are already at this stag setting themselves up for good Metallica spots while I'm still peaking across the way to see how bad (in terms of me not being up front) things were getting for Arctic Monkeys.

 Arctic Monkeys 

And the trek back to the Fuel stage for Arctic Monkeys. Jeez am I getting a work out today or what? They were introduced by Lars (who introduced Baroness earlier), and they proceeded to prove their coolness. Lots of dancing going on during this set.  And not just during that song with dance floor in the name.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU8EJkyz4js&feature=youtu.be They played "Fluorescent Adolescent" ( my personal fav) 2nd to last, after he introduced a song called "Brick by Brick", in which the drummer handled some of the vocal duties.  Ended it with "Are you Mine" 9:06

Metallica

At this point and time it's past 9 o clock, and you look down at the Orion stage and see blue lights on stage, now everybody is facing that way, and you couldn't get close if you tried. Didn't need to, when Metallica came out and played "Ride The Lightning" in it's entirety it did a couple of things for me.  One, Metallica will kick your balls in live. That is a serious professional band.  Seeing the guys have sort of a sense of humor up there and with putting on this festival and all almost makes up for that whole Napster thing. They said they "flipped it up" on us a bit-they played some stuff not on the record first like "Master Of Puppets," "Sad But True," "The Four Horsemen," after kicking it off with "Hit The Lights." I didn't have the battery life on my phone to Google the album's track list so I marked down the highlights with times next to them in my notes here.

At 10:05Pm, they played "Escape." Am I a lucky bastard or what? My first ever time seeing this band, and I get the song they haven't played-EVER.  Of course my camera's battery is dead for this, (as it's been since Master Of Puppets) they didn't like mess it up or anything. Sounded good.

10:25PM "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was insane. People raising fists (it is Jersey after all)-this one guy came in from of my camera and screamed the lyrics into my phone while I was trying to snap that last picture before the battery died. Thanks asshole.

Encores: To me, an encore means "songs played when you were about to walk towards the exit". This happened at least 5 times on Saturday, where the boys said goodnight and you really thought they were going off and they came back on. First of all, they saved their cool pyrotechnics til the end. Pictures of those fireworks and the flames rising would've been pretty wicked. So encore goes as follows "Nothing Else Matters", "Enter Sandman"(this is where shit started blowing up. Note to self to save some battery life today). Then they ducked off stage for a minute and I started walking towards the exit. Then they came back out to play "Battery" and "One" then ducked off again. I started walking again, because surely it's over. Nope. Came back out to play one more, "Seek And Destroy." They went way past 11.

To read all about Orion Music + More Day Two - Click Here

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Scott Lucas And The Married Men @ Mercury Lounge 06/14/12

Scott Lucas And The Married Men- 05/16/2012

Mercury Lounge -New York City

Words/Photos By Jay Porks

          Back in April when I was at the Mercury Lounge checking out Local H I said to myself “How the hell are they gonna fit 37 other people on stage when Scott comes back with the Married Men?”. Anyway what the hell goes on people? Long time no speak it seems as we roll into the 70th Edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series, bringing us back to the aforementioned Mercury Lounge (217 E Houston Street NYC) to see the almighty Scott Lucas and The Married Men hit the stage. I joke around of course about the 37 people on stage, as the band's 6 other members-Jason Batchko(Organ & Piano),Aaron Duggins (Accordion), Rebecca Brooke M. (Violin) ,Pete Muschong (Guitars & Vocals),Randy Payne (Drums) & Tom Szidon (Bass & Vocals) really keep things interesting with Scott on guitar(as oppose to the bass pick-ups set up) and lead vocals. If you came to see a band resembling Local H tonight, then you were mislead. Although equal in awesomeness, this is not that. This is, as printed somewhere I can't recall at the time “Country-ish, Alternative Rock for people who like Metal ”. Interrupt that as you will. Anyway, doors open at 9:30PM. Yea, 9:30PM, this is the “Late Show” at Mercury Lounge tonight, as they have an earlier show with some other bands happening that's set to end at 9-9:15PM I'd assume. Ticket says Doors 9:30, Show 9:30. So my guess is it won't be long after I walk through those doors before opening act Shelter Belt is on stage. This is gonna be awesome!  So at about 8:20, I had made it to the venue, and what's usually a line of at least a few outside waiting to get in,  was almost vacant sidewalk. Two dudes talking, one of them is in the Married Men, and another dude who was in some band( probably one of the openers from the early show). Tried to eavesdrop as much as I could without being a creep- no juicy information to report. Saw Scott Lucas walking around outside. The difference between this and Local H:  his cool ass hat. The openers were setting up by the time we (I) was let in at 9:32..

         My only problem with Mercury Lounge is their lack of good lighting. I mean, I have a flashlight on my lighter but am I really looking for Scott to punch me tonight?

        At 10 on the dot here comes Shelter Belt on stage. Now there's exactly 7 of us in the crowd. Hey at least I'm not alone. This band seemed to be riffin' something fierce during sound check...  well, that was all the fierce they'd get. They were like southern (even though I thought they mentioned being from Boston),their bass player looked a tad like Cris Kirkwood, and we hee-hawed our way through their 44 minute set. They had 2 false starts on their 2nd to last song. They also performed a cover that I taped. At least I got to sit down for it.

          Suddenly a bunch of dudes in suits start setting stuff up on stage. Those would be the Married Men, and it was at about 11 o'clock when everyone was on stage ready to go, and kick off the set with "Cotton Fields". I'm in my same spot I usually snag at Mercury Lounge, up front to the right. It being my usual spot is the 1st reason I grabbed it, 2nd reason is that the chick who plays violin stands on this side-and she's the only guaranteed female in attendance tonight.

        Wish this review was filled with phrases like "the crowd went nuts" or "to a resounding applause"- but I kept turning around and I counted no more than 35 people by nights end. So many people missing this great band. "Lovers Lullaby" was 2nd, and it's here the perfect example of what this band can do with it's loud/quiet dynamic-from extreme folky to extreme feedback . I never thought a band with a violinist and accordion player could get THAT loud and rock THIS hard. And with no one in front of me I'm free to sway left and right as I please. Lovers Lullaby went into "Extra Special Bitter", and then "Blood Half Moons"-the title track from their latest record, you may have read about it on Antiquiet.

         You can file this in the "here's something you don't see everyday" section: Before they played "Heavy Little Love", Scott asks "Does anyone have a phone?". Then , realizing how dumb the question was sarcastically continues "yeah, does anyone in New York City have a phone? Well we're gonna make a video for this next song so shoot it and send it to us". Really? That's pretty sweet. Hope when I tweet the video at Scott repeatedly he  eventually replies. 

        
         This band's not together that long, so I'm always on YouTube looking for live footage of them. And I always wondered why Hey Rita and l Got A Feeling always show up in the same clips. Like it's always Hey Rita/I Got A Feeling. That bothered me, and I was careful tonight when they jumped into "Hey Rita"- kept telling myself "pay attention to when the song ends you idiot". Well, guess who's currently uploading a video titled "Hey Rita/I Got A Feeling"? This guy.

    To close out the evening was a cover(the cover they seem to be doing on this tour) of Johnny Cash's "Ain't No Grave(Can Hold My Body Down) ". I got a taste of this when I was here in April to see Local H and Scott opened with some Married Men tunes, but the full band version was un-freaking-believable. The band just explodes into the chorus part-got the accordion guy all over the place on stage, chick with the violin is spazzing out as she ferociously hits every lick on that thing-it was f#%king epic man. It was so intense, it was so awesome, it was so....over. Damn.

     

         After the set, I waited for the band to come off stage as I told them how awesome they were.  When Scott passed by I casually said "Amazing, as usual" and he was like "Thanks man" and shook my hand. This Scott Lucas who plays with the Married Men seems to be a much more laid back Scott Lucas. No fans called out during the show or anything. I grabbed the set list while saying to the drummer "As I fan-boy, can I grab this??"

        Then I'm walking out and the accordion player is at the doorway and he's like "Got a light?". So while outside for this 2 minutes or so I noticed Scott is at the merch table selling stuff-and since I don't feel like doing laundry for another day I gotta grab myself a tee shirt! Scott was nice as always at the table, I got my Blood Half Moons tee shirt for 17 bucks. I don't remember buying a concert tee at a better price before.  So I asked him to sign my ticket stub (you know, cause I only have 2 already) and I said that they better come back as I made my way out the door into the New York City streets a few minutes after Midnight to try and hail down a cab.

      

        Fun times. Have no complaints besides Mercury Lounge barely having any freaking lights. It's dark as hell in there! But besides that, awesome night, awesome tunes. Hope I kept you entertained for the time being, and next time you'll be reading me is when I'm at Orion Music + More Festival in Atlantic City, NJ. Til next time

LATE..